cousu de fil blanc

The French expression “cousu de fil blanc” translates literally to “sewn or stitched in white thread”. English meanings include:

• obvious
• easy to see through
• perfectly predictable

The idea is that if a dark-colored garment is sewn with a white piece of thread, the thread sticks out very clearly to the eye. Expressio.fr suggests the following definitions in French: 1) Very crude and obvious (with regards to a trial) and 2) Extremely predictable (with regards to a story).

example sentence:

• Tout le monde sait que le procès de O.J. a été cousu de fil blanc. Il a fini par passer la reste de sa vie en prison. Everybody know the obvious outcome of O.J.’s trial. He ended up spending the rest of his life in prison.

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